bodies are produced in calves, monkeys and tion. In cotton rats and guinea pigs, intra- guinea pigs, showing cross-fixation with cerebral inoculation produces encephalitis, other miyagawanellae. and in guinea pigs, intraperitoneal inocula- Pathogenicity and tissue tropism: Intra- tion produces peritonitis. In mice, only du- cerebral injection in calves produces fever bious results are produced by intracerebral, and encephalitis while intraperitoneal in- intranasal or intraperitoneal inoculation, jection produces peritonitis and encephali- In hamsters, intracerebral inoculation pro- tis. After subcutaneous injection a syn- duces encephalitis. irome like the natural sporadic bovine Antibiotic therapy: Susceptible to the encephalomyelitis is produced. Encephali- action of aureomycin and terramycin. tis is produced in monkeys after intra- Habitat: The etiological agent of sporadic csrebral or intraperitoneal inoculation. In bovine encephalomyelitis. Elementary bod- rabbits there are no symptoms after intra- ies are present in the exudate over the brain cerebral, intratesticular or corneal inocula- and in the peritoneum. FAMILY III. BARTONELLACEAE GIESZCZYKIEWICZ, 1939.* (Bull. Acad. Polon. Sci., Lettres, Classe Sci. Math. Nat., B (I), 1939, 9-27.) Bar.to.nel.la'ce.ae. M.L. fem.n. Bartonella type genus of the family; -aceae ending to denote a family; M.L. fem.pl.n. Bartonellaceae the Bartonella family. Rod-shaped, coccoid, ring- or disc-shaped, filamentous and beaded microorganisms, usu- ally less than 3 microns in greatest dimension. Parasites of the erj^throcytes in man and other vertebrates. Not acid-alcohol-fast. Stain lightly with many aniline dyes but distinctly with Giemsa's stain after methyl alcohol fixation; following this technique the BarioneZZaceae are readily distinguished from the protozoa which also parasitize erythrocytes in that the former stain with no differentiation into nucleus and cytoplasm. Gram-negative. Cultiva- tion in vitro on non-living media has been achieved in two genera. At least one species bears a single polar flagellum in culture. Arthropod transmission has been established in the ma- jority of genera. Cause bartonellosis in man and haemobartonellosis, grahamellosis and eperythrozoonosis in lower animals. Attempts at the familial classification of the genera Haemobartonella, Eperythrozoon and Grahainella are fundamentally unsatisfactory at present because of inadequate knowledge. Suggestions have been made that one or more of these genera be placed in families as varied as Pseudomonadaceae and Actinomycetaceue. Another proposal, almost the opposite, is that these organisms are not bacteria at all but belong to some ill-defined group related to the viruses. Finally, there has been some questioning of the validity of the generic distinctions themselves. Divergences of this magnitude reflect inadequacy of the basic data. Until such data are available, these genera are retained in Bartonellaceae, first, as a convenience for grouping microorganisms with common important features, and second, because these microorganisms cannot be better classified in any other family. Future information may suggest reclassification; this is clearly realized. Other possibly related forms, e.g. Aegyptianella Carpano (Boll. d. Min. d. Agricultura egiziano, 1928) and Cytoeceies Tyzzer (Parasitol., SO, 1938, 242), are not included here since it is even less evident that these microorganisms are bacteria. Key to the genera of family Bartonellaceae. I. Multiply on erythrocytes and within fixed-tissue cells. Usually possess a single, polar flagellum when cultivated in or on non-living media. Provoke a progressive anemia
- Revised by Dr. David Weinman, Department of Microbiology, Yale University, New
Haven, Connecticut, September, 1955.
